‘Hope’ Just Gave Neon Its Best Opening for an International Film Ever

Na Hong-jin doesn’t make movies often, but when he does, festival audiences tend to notice. The South Korean filmmaker behind ‘The Wailing’ returned to Cannes this year with ‘Hope,’ his first feature in roughly a decade, and the response inside the Grand Lumière Theatre was about as enthusiastic as festival premieres get.

That reception set the stage for an unusually aggressive U.S. rollout from Neon, the distributor known for turning Cannes buzz into award-season gold with films like ‘Parasite’ and ‘Anora.’ Rather than easing ‘Hope’ into American theaters the way ‘Parasite’ famously started in just three locations before expanding, Neon opted to open the Korean-language sci-fi thriller wide across roughly 1,560 theaters, the biggest domestic footprint for a Korean film since ‘Parasite’ itself. Ahead of that wide bow, the distributor also ran early premium-format previews across Dolby, 4DX, ScreenX, and other large-screen setups, several of which reportedly sold out in major markets.

That bet has paid off. ‘Hope’ pulled in a strong $5 million over its five-day opening window despite playing in a relatively modest theater count for a wide release, translating into a rare $3,200 average per theater for an international title attempting a mainstream U.S. rollout. For a foreign-language film competing against major studio tentpoles, that kind of per-screen performance stands out.

#NEON keeps earning dividends for believing in #NaHongJin’s sci-fi thriller #HOPE, one of the buzziest festival darlings out of #Cannes, and giving it widest release for a Korean film at US #BoxOffice!#HOPE grossed STRONG 5M on 5-day Opening, despite playing over just 1.560… pic.twitter.com/hYvPtHgcZw

— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) September 13, 2026

The opening marks the biggest domestic debut ever for a Korean film and the largest international opening in Neon’s history as a distributor. Coming from a studio that has built its reputation on turning festival darlings into theatrical hits, that’s a meaningful milestone, especially for a film carrying the widest release any Korean-language title has attempted stateside in years.

Reception for ‘Hope’ has been genuinely divided since its Cannes debut, and that split has carried over into its U.S. release. On the enthusiastic end, The Hollywood Reporter’s chief film critic David Rooney praised the film as a rip-roaring sci-fi creature feature that has instant cult classic written all over it, calling it the rare action thriller that pulls viewers in immediately with virtuoso camerawork and adrenalized pacing.

Not every critic landed in the same place. The film’s ambitious blend of western, horror, and cosmic science-fiction elements across a lengthy runtime has drawn pushback from some reviewers who found its scale overextended and its human characters underdeveloped relative to its genre-hopping spectacle. That divide has kept the film’s aggregate scores respectable but far from unanimous, even as audience reaction has tracked closely with critical sentiment.

That kind of polarized but passionate response is often exactly what fuels word-of-mouth openings like this one. With the film already carrying a $35 million haul from its South Korean run, where it became the country’s biggest opening of the year, and now backed by strong U.S. per-theater numbers, ‘Hope’ looks positioned to keep building momentum in the weeks ahead.

For Neon, the results validate a genuine gamble on scale. Betting a wide U.S. release on a three-hour, Korean-language genre film is not a conventional strategy, but the studio’s growing track record with international auteurs appears to be paying real dividends at the domestic box office once again. Neon has built an unusually strong recent run with global filmmakers, carrying seven consecutive Palme d’Or winners out of Cannes and racking up dozens of Oscar nominations over the past several award cycles.

HOPE is coming.

Experience it in theaters starting Wednesday. Get tickets now: https://t.co/2iWb0XHJN8 pic.twitter.com/GtaG8gw3gi

— NEON (@neonrated) September 7, 2026

That combination of festival pedigree and box office ambition makes ‘Hope’ one of the more interesting theatrical experiments of the year. A wide domestic release for a subtitled genre film is still a rarity in the current marketplace, and its early performance suggests there may be more appetite for that kind of bet than conventional distribution wisdom typically assumes.

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